This guy...

In Colorado

This guy needs some blog time.  Here are some of his recent pics that I love!

Miami Vice look

"Hey, who is behind me?"

Where danger and safety collide....

Mountain Lion Alert

My girlfriend, Heather, and her girlfriend, Deb, were at the cabin today and Deb saw a mountain lion in the lot next to ours.  She said it came from the direction of the road and ran thru the lot really fast as she was throwing watermelon rinds out and they made a loud thud when hitting the ground!

So exciting!

Old Dudes Trip

My brother has a few buddies who meet up in different parts of the country to play golf together.  They are friends from college and it is so great that they make the time to see each other.   This week they are in Colorado.  I can't wait to hear all about it.

Date Nite

I love these two.  You wanna know why?

They think about it and send me a pic of them going out on their date nite (thanks Amanda).
When I compliment them on how good they look, they say thank you.
They make the time to go on date nites.
They love their Mama and Mama Chach.
They are both beautiful - inside and out!

New Chairs

Like my new chair?  It is a new purchase for our backpacking trip.  It is so nice to have somewhere to sit after walking for miles and miles with a backpack on!

Castle Rock State Park - Test Trip

Inclement weather shelter

Marty, Grace and I did a quick overnight test hike to Castle Rock State Park. It was an easy 5.5 mile loop.  We left on Saturday at 1:30 pm and got back on Sunday at about 10:45 am.

The camp spot was interesting - it had picnic tables, water, fire pits and an outhouse.  It was awesome to pack to a spot where there was a table and a spot to sit down.  There were 25 spots.  The lower spots were filled up with a Boy Scout troop and the upper spots had about 4 groups of campers to about 20 spots.  So there was plenty of room and privacy.

There was one group of campers that looked like they had just purchased all their stuff at REI and headed up the hill - it all looked brand new.  But apparently, they could not read....they had a giant fire within 20 feet of the sign that said - HIGH FIRE DANGER - NO CAMPFIRES!  And then they proceeded to gather wood for the fire which is also prohibited.  OH - and they were in the group campfire area where the water spout was so we had to walk farther to get water. Jerks!  We think a ranger came after we went to bed because when we got up in the morning, they had moved to a real spot instead of the campfire center.

The campsite also has a shelter for refuge in inclement weather (see pic above).  Now I want to go there in a rainstorm!

Cool oak tree!

I was taking a little walk this morning with my tea and as I was walking, this plopped into it!

Inclement weather shelter

View looking south

Getting my morning tea ready

On our way out, we ran into the Boy Scouts.  That was super helpful in one spot where there was a cliff.  I asked them to line up along the cliff side while I walked on the inside!

When we got back, we drove right to REI to look at new camp chairs, a rain coat for Grace and dried eggs.  We are going to try the dried eggs (and some dried veggies) in top ramen because we can't stomach the backpacking food!

My morning artwork - before everyone else was up - it's a gondola!

Full moon in the morning

We had an apple cobbler after dinner which was more like apple and a giant dumpling!

Marty's "tastes like feet" Thai soup was not a hit!

Super happy with my new pack

All kinds of giggling in camp

Site 15

Grace and I were struggling putting up the tent....ok - it was really just me.  Grace was laughing!

Marty pretending he is spent from hiking a mile!

Castle Rock Falls

Rock climbers

At the trailhead

Overall, it was a great test trip and gave us a bunch of ideas.

After Play

Hops has a size small body and size XXL tongue!

Quiche

Grace made the quiche for TNDC and it is amazing!

Look who loves his baby

Training Hike

We took a great training hike last nite to ST Park with Jim and Marty.  I had a 28 pound pack and G had a 20 pound pack (wuss!).  Highlights included the dogs chasing a wild boar (that's us blowing our danger whistles for the boar!) and still being on the trail in the dark!  The pic on the right is s steep uphill in which G was "going to dig her own grave" (shout out to Amanda!).

For the TNDC men

Project SOAR and Marine Biology

Today was the first day of school for Grace and Drew.  Both have cool classes this year.  I am excited to hear about them thru the semester.

Drew is doing an outreach class call Project SOAR.

It's cool that he gets to do this type of mentoring work since he also did it in high school.

Grace's coolest class is Marine Biology.

Dumb Weener

Jim is fixing the top of the window seat which is all scratched up from the dogs laying on it.  So he has it off and it currently looks like the pic above.  We have the whole area blocked off with chairs, table and steps so that they dogs cannot get up there and fall in the hole...

Today I was sitting in a red chair right in front of the window.  I was on a call for work and Ahi was sitting in the chair next to me.  She heard something, jumped over me, jumped onto the table and jumped onto the window seat....that is no longer there.

I threw down my phone and ran to look into the bottom of the window box.  She was sitting there completely stunned!

Luckily she was not hurt. 

Eggs

Auntie Deb gave me a couple of fresh eggs from her neighbors and one was this long skinny blue one.  She had to hold Jeremy back from cracking it open because he was sure it was a double yolk due to its length.  I cracked it open this morning and he was right!

I miss my chickens!

Lazy Sunday

We are having a lazy Sunday morning (which really just means we are home and not somewhere else ---- because trust me, I have not been lazy!).  The dogs seem to be enjoying the time.  They were just laying in the kitchen watching make some fried rice for breakfast when Hops decided she needed to haul her giant bear out back and lay in the sun.  A few minutes later, Ahi decided to join her.  Daisy - who is endlessly loyal - stayed right by my side!

You will never walk alone

You'll never walk alone because I will always be with you.

A friend at work had her friend paint a pic of my two labs and was going to give it to me....but it turned into a cluster!  Her friend, who is a temperamental artist, decided to do a giant picture instead of an 8 by 10.  Then she wanted about $500 for the finished painting.  My friend talked her down in price and got it for much less.  But then she decided she like it so she is keeping it.  So now a beautiful painting of my two dogs sits on her desk at work!  Everyone comes in and asks if those are her dogs, and she says, "no, they are Chris' dogs"!  Everyone is then totally confused.

Anyway, that is a long background for this pic.  Her friend also made cards with the same pic and for this one she put this quote, " You'll never walk alone because I will always be with you".  

I was given that card right after Daisy got sick and her long term prognosis was unclear.  It was so fitting to remind me she will always be with me no matter what happens.  And she will be with Hops too because she has taught her so much.  OH - And Ahi too because Ahi would not be who she is today with out her wise big sis.

So I framed the picture and will treasure it.

AZ Storm Chasers

Drew and Amanda are back in AZ and today they sent us these pics and video of a storm coming thru Tucson.  It rained about 6 inches in a very short period of time and the streets were flooded.  The power was out on campus too.

Storm is over

Backpacking trip update

I have been doing a lot of training and planning for the backpacking trip.  The pack above is the one I have been using at work for training.  I put 20 pounds of hand weights in it and then do 15 minutes on the stair master followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill at a steep incline.

The pack below is my brand new pack.  I went to REI and spent 2 hours trying on different packs.  They fill them up with sand bags so you can get a feel for how they will feel out on a trail.  I was sure I would go with a brand called Osprey but hated it right away.  This is Deutar bag and it gets really good reviews. 

Above is me using my new backpack for the first time.  Jim and I did a quick 3.5 mile hike last nite at ST park, just to test it out.  It felt great!

 

This is me this morning - I traded in my new pack for a little angel!  Grace and Mari were also on this hike.  OH!  And Hops!

Ridge Line Drive

On the last day in Colorado we drove along the road in the Rocky Mountain National Park that goes to 12,200 feet and is along the continental divide.  We saw a huge herd of elk and did a tiny little walk that made us totally woozy because of the altitude!

We were well above the tree line.